Chapter 572

“Sigh…”

Just as Leon had Andre’s stunned soul in hand, ready to send him off to the Gate of the Dead, a somewhat regretful sigh suddenly rang out from deep within Prince Andre’s soul.

“Hmph, I guess it was right not to fully trust you.”

“Wha…?!”

Hearing that familiar voice, Andre’s pupils couldn’t help but shrink violently. He immediately shouted back furiously, “White Snake? What have you done to my soul… urgh…”

“It wasn’t me who tampered with your soul, but the Execution King Assembly as a whole who added some safeguards to the world fragment given to you.”

The voice of White Snake sighed, “Black Owl, although your abilities and wisdom aren’t bad, your mindset is still too naive. Moreover, since you’re also one of the royal family targets, how could the assembly possibly fully trust you?”

So, the Execution King Assembly did have an ace up their sleeve on him after all.

After listening to the brief exchange between “White Snake” and Prince Andre, Leon squinted his eyes when he noticed the strange patterns resembling snake scales that appeared on the outer layer of Andre’s soul.

When the Scorpion Bureau Director was ambushed before, it was the Execution King Assembly that managed to bypass the Watchtower Palace, sending down their power to forcibly seal his soul, which led to the Scorpion Bureau Director getting eliminated at lightning speed.

If there was one, there would naturally be two; once they sense the situation slipping out of control, the likelihood of the Execution King Assembly intervening again wouldn’t be just high—it’d be extremely high.

“Leon Lane.”

The silver-white snake scale patterns adorned with specks of starlight quickly spread, soon climbing onto Prince Andre’s face, covering nearly half of it. The Andre with half his face covered in snake scales spoke in White Snake’s tone, lamenting:

“Although Black Owl does indeed have many issues, even with the Scorpion Bureau Director dealt with, you’ve still managed to seize the opportunity to forcefully reverse the situation. It seems we underestimated you in the past.”

“So what?”

With both hands gripping Andre’s soul tightly, Leon, with the faint illusion of the Three-headed Dog God appearing behind him, narrowed his eyes and retorted, “Andre’s soul is already in my grasp, ready to be sent into the Gate of the Dead at any moment. What do you plan to do to stop me?”

“You’ve misunderstood; I’m not planning to save Black Owl.”

After hearing Leon’s words, “Prince Andre” shook his head and said calmly:

“To us, he’s no different from the Aquarius Director of your Clearing Bureau—just an external member, not truly aligned with us. There’s no need for me to save him.

All I need to do now is enforce the restrictions he and Snow Owl agreed upon when joining the Execution King Assembly, ensuring that no royal bloodline survives leaving the Crocodile Kingdom.”

Restrictions?

Upon hearing this, Leon slightly started, then seemed to recall something, and abruptly turned around.

Sure enough, the Jade-eyed Maiden who hadn’t made a sound for quite some time was trembling while squatting halfway on the ground. Not only were her arms covered in pitch-black crow feathers, but even the area where her mouth should be had formed a glossy black bird’s beak.

“Restriction One: As long as the Crocodile Kingdom exists, one must never leave the kingdom. Violators will experience annihilation of body and soul.”

As “Prince Andre” chanted, cracks appeared simultaneously on the foreheads of the two siblings, and a drop of golden-red blood rolled down from the cracks in their foreheads.

“Restriction Two: One must never bear royal offspring throughout their life. The royal lineage shall be cut off here. Violators will experience annihilation of body and soul.”

As “Prince Andre” raised his second finger, another fine crack appeared on their foreheads, squeezing out another pale pink blood droplet.

When the third crack appeared on their foreheads and a dark gray blood droplet floated up, “Prince Andre” raised three fingers and stated calmly,

“Both of you, according to my judgment, it’s time to trigger Restriction Three.”

“No!”

In the calm notification from White Snake, Andre’s soul surged, quickly reclaiming control of half his face, shouting angrily, “No one has been taken out of the Crocodile Kingdom! I haven’t breached the contract! You’re the ones who breached it!”

“But this event is bound to happen.”

The other half of “Prince Andre” said calmly, “You’ve always misunderstood one thing. The condition for triggering the restriction isn’t what you think has ‘already’ happened, but when it ‘is about to’ happen, we already have the right to activate the restriction.

Moreover, if we must talk about breaches, then the first one to breach was you. After obtaining the world fragment, you painted almost all of your soul into the painting that incorporated the world fragment.

You merely retained consciousness and flesh within the Crocodile Kingdom, along with a small part of your soul within the normal human range, attempting to escape the constraints you established. That’s already a betrayal.”

“No! This is… ”

Not a single content inside 69 Book Bar unseen!

“We’ve been very fair, always acting according to the agreement. Even though you breached the contract first, we didn’t immediately punish you. No matter how you calculate it, it’s you who owe us.”

After saying this, “Prince Andre” looked up at Leon whose brow was furrowed, and informed him calmly, “I’ve finished what I needed to do, and I’ve conveyed everything that needs to be passed on. Farewell then, you can send his soul to the Deathscape.”

“…”

Send it to the Deathscape… Is there even a need for that anymore?

Seeing the gradually collapsing souls of the brother and sister after ‘White Snake’ left, despite their desperate attempts to maintain them, Leon couldn’t help but close his eyes and deeply sighed in his heart.

At the rate Andre’s soul is collapsing, it’ll likely disintegrate just after passing through [Funeral Robe Mirror Lake], making it impossible to reach [Repentance City]. And Philia’s soul, being much weaker than his, will probably completely dissipate within two or three hours.

So after all the effort I’ve gone through, the mission still failed…

…

“No! It shouldn’t be like this!”

As the white snake patterns on his body faded somewhat, Prince Andre’s will regained the upper hand. Clenching his teeth with tears welling up, full of reluctance, he said,

“I was all set… I… I was prepared to apologize… Why… Why is it like this?”

“Sorry, there’s nothing more I can do.”

Carrying Phelia, who was covered in crow feathers and trembling uncontrollably, and placing her beside him, Leon sighed and said to the two siblings lying side by side on the ground, “That’s how life goes. Regret runs through life from start to finish. Some things, if not done at the moment, will never have another chance.

Andre, in your current soul state, it’s already impossible to reach [Repentance City] to apologize to your family. But you still have one last chance to say something to your younger sister.”

(The chapter ends here.)